The Communicator The September—October 2021 A Publication Of Surrey Amateur Radio CoSemptmemubneric- Oacttioobners2021 | The Communicator DEPARTMENTS The rest of the story 4 Emergency comms around the globe 9 News you can lose —Ham humour 13 Radio Ramblings 14 PUBLICATION CONTACTS Tech topics 26, 27, 48 COMMUNICATOR John Schouten VE7TI 2-meters 32 & BLOG EDITOR communicator at ve7sar.net Solder Splatter 37 SARC TELEPHONE (604) 802-1825 CORRESPONDENCE 12144 - 57A Avenue Measurements with the Nano VNA 43 Surrey, BC V3X 2S3 SARC at ve7sar.net VE7SL’s Notebook 58 CONTRIBUTING John Brodie VA7XB EDITORS Kevin McQuiggin VE7ZD/KN7Q Foundations of Amateur Radio 64 Back To Basics 74 SARC & SEPAR News 86—108 QRT 107 IN THIS ISSUE The Communicator is a publication of Surrey Amateur Radio Communications. It appears bi-monthly, on odd-numbered months, for Radio Ramblings—Kevin writes area Amateur Radio operators and beyond, to enhance the exchange of information and to promote ham radio about his moon bounce project activity. During non-publication months we encourage you to visit the Digital Communicator at ve7sar.blogspot.ca, which includes recent news, past issues of The Communicator, our history, photos, videos and other A Yaesu transverter sequencer information. To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your address for e-mail delivery of this newsletter, notify communicator @ ve7sar.net Regular readers who are not SARC members are invited Measurements with the to contribute a $5 annual donation towards our Field Day fund via PayPal. NanoVNA—Part 6 SARC maintains a website at www.ve7sar.net …and so much more! 2 | September - October The Communicator qrm QRM ...from the Editor’s Shack Do you have a photo or bit of Ham news to share? An Interesting link? On the Web Something to sell or something you are looking for? ve7sar.net eMail it to communicator at ve7sar.net for inclusion in this publication. Between newsletters, watch your e-mail for news, Calling on all Amateur Radio Clubs publication beyond our immediate announcements of Amateur that have a published newsletter! I membership, all the better. The one Radio events, monthly find that there is a lot of interest in distinction we have is an absence of meetings and training sharing newsletters, ours is certainly advertising to clutter our pages. All opportunities. a prime example. There are some of us working on this newsletter Click the links below to excellent ones out there with (eZine?) do so as volunteers with no articles and information that remuneration, in the true spirit of follow our presence on the web and social media: extends well beyond their Amateur Radio. Keep those cards membership. Many clubs now have and letters, and emails coming. We SARC Blog an Internet presence only but often appreciate hearing from you. ve7sar.blogspot.ca that is not up to date. Heading into September and Fall, we Twitter I’d like to invite clubs to forward the at SARC/SEPAR start a new Amateur @ve7sar link to their newsletter and I will Radio year. Lots of events, contests publish them in a future issue of The and presentations are ahead. If you FaceBook Communicator. have not been active lately, pick up SurreyAmateurRadio that mic, send a message or try out I thank those who have provided some of those new modes. Our Our YouTube Channel feedback on this publication. I have hobby is like few others. There are SurreyARC received favorable comparisons to so many facets, it is nearly QST, CQ, TCA and other ham impossible to be an expert at all but SARC Photo Albums publications. it is fun to experiment and there is Web Albums We have no lots of help if you look for it. or intent to compete but If 73, tinyurl.com/SARCphoto we provide a useful ~ John VE7TI, Editor [email protected] This Month’s Cover… Fred Orsetti VE7IO, a long time Ham and SARC member and one of my mentors has been recognized for his service to our national organization Radio Amateurs of Canada. The story is on page 12, Fred’s Radio-Active profile is on page 91. “It has been said the greatest discoveries are yet to be made." - John Kraus Septe ber - October 2021 | 3 The Communicator The Rest Of The Story… The story of John Kraus and ‘Big Ear’ John Daniel Kraus (June 28, 1910 – Career July 18, 2004) was an American physicist known for his Following the completion of his contributions to electromagnetics, doctorate, Kraus was a member of radio astronomy, and antenna the research team in nuclear theory. His inventions included the physics at the University of helical antenna, the corner Michigan, helping to design and reflector antenna, and several build the school's new 100-ton other types of antennas. He cyclotron. During World War II he designed the Big Ear radio telescope worked on degaussing ships for the at Ohio State University, which was United States Navy and on radar constructed mostly by a team of countermeasures at Harvard OSU students and was used to carry University. out the Ohio Sky Survey. Kraus held a number of patents and published After the war, Kraus joined Ohio State University, later becoming the widely. director of the Radio Observatory Kraus was born in 1910 in Ann and McDougal Professor (Emeritus) Arbor, Michigan. He received his of Electrical Engineering and John D. Kraus Ph.D. in physics from the University Astronomy. He supervised the Ohio W8JK of Michigan in 1933. In addition to Sky Survey which cataloged over his professional achievements, he 19,000 radio sources, more than also contributed to amateur radio. half previously unknown, and later His father was scientist Edward participated in the SETI survey Henry Kraus. conducted by Bob Dixon. Before World War II Kraus Sputnik I developed antennas including the corner reflector and W8JK close- In 1958, while he was at Ohio State, spaced array. He also helped Kraus used the signal of radio construct and operate the station WWV to track the University of Michigan 100-ton disintegration of Russian satellite cyclotron, then the world's most Sputnik 1. Kraus knew that a powerful particle accelerator. meteor entering the upper atmosphere leaves in its wake a small amount of ionized air. This air 4 | September - October 2021 The Communicator reflects a stray radio signal back to Earth, strengthening the signal QSL card of John Kraus sent to shortwave at the surface for a few seconds. This effect is known as meteor listener, 1933 scatter. Kraus predicted that what was left of Sputnik would exhibit the same effect, but on a larger scale. His prediction was correct; WWV's signal was noticeably strengthened for durations lasting over a minute. In addition, the strengthening came from a direction and at a time of day that agreed with predictions of the paths of Sputnik's last orbits. Using this information, Kraus was able to draw up a complete timeline of Sputnik's disintegration. His data also led him to conclude that satellites do not fail as one unit. Instead, his data indicated that the spacecraft broke up into its component parts as it moved closer to the Earth. Kraus, SETI and the ‘Big Ear’ The scope's basic design is similar to a reflector If ever there is a radio astronomer's hall of fame, telescope. Its design has been copied for radio one of the first inductees would be Ohio State telescope observatories in Russia and France. University professor emeritus Dr. John Kraus, the "Big Ear's" proud father. "Well, the whole idea was a maximum size for a dollar cost," Kraus says. "It achieved that objective. Kraus emerged as one of the country's leading radio It was designed for mapping the radio sky, and it telescope pioneers in the 1940's. His has been successful finding the most distant known contemporaries included Karl Jansky, a Bell objects in the universe." Telephone Laboratories engineer who invented the radio telescope in the 1930s. A good friend, Grote In his 1976 book "Big Ear," [now in a revised edition Reber, another radio engineer, helped mold the called Big Ear Two] Kraus talks about starting the science. search for extraterrestrial intelligence on Dec. 7, 1973. Today, Kraus, at 84, lives only a few miles from the Big Ear off U.S. 23 in Delaware County. Kraus is still "There was no fuss or fanfare; switches were set; acknowledged as director at the Big Ear, although recorders started and the data began to flow," he is retired from the project. Kraus writes. Kraus designed the Big Ear and built it in the late More than 20 years later, the search continues. 1950's with the help of undergraduate and graduate Kraus won't predict the chances for success, only students for about $250,000. In Kraus' classes, that "someday, something may occur. But that may students got a working education. The Big Ear's be a long ways in the future." assistant director, Dr. Robert S. Dixon, says he came to OSU in 1963 because he wanted to study "It's very tough," he says. "It's a lot more difficult under Kraus. "This was one of the wonderful than many people think. It may also be something features of our academic institution," Kraus says. that is found serendipitously. Somebody looking for "Because the students in doing this got a something else may stumble on it." fantastically good experience that they would not have obtained elsewhere." September - October 2021 | 5 The Communicator Kraus (W8JK) and the first corner In radio astronomy circles, Kraus is revered. His textbook "Radio reflector antenna; operating at 5 Astronomy," published in 1966, is the bible in the field.